How well can you bargain?

How many times has it happened that you bought something without bargaining, how many times you were lazy enough not to take out cash from an ATM 200 meters away and pay that extra 2% to the vendor?

Now, Take a look at the picture below, and tell me what is out of the ordinary.

What strikes most to you ?

Bunch of school children walking back home probably, in the evening shadows and the nice greenary behind,

Well, yes, that is obvious and that is because their school is situated here and they too stay in the hills around, so that is not the thing,

this is one of such schools, by the way…

Ok, So what is peculiar in the first picture?

Bunch of doctors, probably there for the health camp,

Yes but no extra ordinary thing…

Come on, tell me, what else?

Think!

Let me give you a clue, it’s very trivial, subtle yet quite significant.

The way to their school,

Ok, got it? No? Not yet,

All right, Well, while you continue speculating, let me tell you what this event is all about.

Outreach had arranged several medical camps (over a complete week) in some four villages in remote areas around Pune। The villages covered were Kumble, Varoti, Pasli and Bhutonde, The medical camps were conducted for students and the villagers in these and adjoining smaller villages (called “Vasti”s)

Many things came to light as the doctors from the Sassoon hospital in Pune, examined the kids.

One in particular was that, many of these kids carried feet infections, wonder why?

Now, take a look at all the pictures above once again.

How many of these kids are wearing any footwear? And, that’s what is out of ordinary in those pictures. What however is not evident from the pictures is… why is it so?

It is simply because, they cannot afford them.

Plus, their schools don’t have benches to sit on

Some schools do provide cotton mats but they might not be sufficient and so some of them bring jute bags from their homes while coming to schools to sit on and carry them back of course.

One pair of hawai chappals costs around 40 Rs.

A one person small mat probably would cost around same…

One would never urge you to give up on your Nikes and Adidases, you should never, But When you buy a 2000 Rs. pair of Shoes and let’s say instead of paying right away you bargain a little, may be, he discounts 50 Rs. That can buy one of these kids a pair of hawai chappals that could go for about a year.

Or a single person mat that’d comfort some kid during when the hard shahabadi tiles of their schools are too cold or too wet to sit on.

Or when you pay by card and the shopkeeper charges you 2% (about 40 Rs.) for the card payment and you don’t want to run to the ATM, you just make peace with it, and sign the receipt, Wouldn’t it make much more sense to walk 100 meters to the nearest ATM get the cash and save on those 40 Rs.?

So that your 100-200 meters walk can make it easier for someone to walk about 500Kms (avg. 5 kms each day)?

You know, you can do that.

Only now, you know what you’d be bargaining for,

All that’d matter is

“How well can you bargain? “

-Nikhil D. Purwant

* Pictures by – Dipti Barhate.